We will be releasing raw video clips from “Reverie” This Friday

Due to pretty incredible demand and a fair amount of (healthy) skepticism as to whether or not the footage in the “Reverie” piece is “truly” raw out of the camera, we will be releasing a series of raw clips – the exact same clips that were used in the “Reverie” short film – this coming Friday.

The H.264 mov files that you will see are straight out of the prototype camera. (You will be able to see that these are indeed raw clips for yourself in the embedded EXIF info) and will prove all of the skeptics wrong – not a single color, tonal, noise, exposure – or ANY adjustment was made to any of the footage at any time.

It will also allow everyone to enjoy the incredible quality this camera produces in 1080p goodness… the footage is just tasty… savory to be exact – in terms of its technical image quality.

Baring any technical hiccups (these raw clips are each individually larger than the final film itself…) Canon will be hosting these clips and allowing you to download them this coming Friday. The announcement of their availability will be made on this blog (as mentioned before in previous posts, you can subscribe to this blog via RSS and/or e-mail to be notified as soon as this happens.)

Our initial plan was to release the film at 1080p in it’s entirety – but I personally resisted that for a reason that you might not see at first. Moby very, very graciously allows independent film makers to use his music (with attribution) as part of their films – with specific limitations. I also sought out a more direct clearance on my own with him and his record labels on top of that just f.y.i.

I think that this parctice is incredibly generous of him and speaks highly of his willingness to help other creatives have the chance to the marry their films along with some of the best music out there. One of the important caveats (and what my lawyer told me) is that at no time can anyone download the film – and more to the point his music – to their hard drives. Therefore the only way to have allowed you to download the film in its entirety would have forced me to release it out w/o any music or sound – or to use royalty-free music. Creatively I didn’t want to do that – as I thought that a big part of the short film’s appeal and pacing is owed to Moby’s music. Releasing it w/o music – or someone else’s music – just doesn’t feel right to me.

The fact that the final H.264 compressed 3 minute film takes up over 500MB is the other issue. To be clear: I will not budge on this issue – so there is not need to write about it, or ask me to share it via bit torrent etc. The clips should be more than sufficient in allowing everyone to see for themselves – that the video that comes out (raw) from the camera – is stunning.

I’ll have more to share about this project – and upcoming projects within the next few days. I appreciate your patience. Please never forget that this was a last minute project – that I produced completely independently (with the helps of some great friends) and that has taken over my life for close to two weeks now. My excitement for this project stems from the fact that I think that his camera – and the technology within it – will change many of our futures. I’m proud to be a part of the announcement of this “game changing” technology in some small way. This has never been (from the onset) about turning a profit – or making any profit at all for that matter.

The response and excitement this little video has produced was well worth the 72 hours of my life – and of the additional effort of getting the film out – to me. Don’t underestimate how big of a deal it is for Canon to be releasing raw footage from a prototype camera – doing that is definitely not something they normally would ever do. But the response to this camera and frankly the incredible quality of the prototype footage technically – not to mention the overwhelming response from all of you – has led them to make a big exception. So stay tuned. More TK.

Hey Vincent, one nitpick: how can you say that your movie production is not a commercial venture? Are you not paid by Canon to be an ambassador of its products? And was the movie not hosted by Canon on its corporate web site to represent the capabilities of the camera it is currently marketing and selling? If so, how can the claim that the film isn’t a commercial venture be valid?

[…] Vincent Laforet wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptThe bclips/b should be more than sufficient in allowing everyone to see for themselves – that the bvideo/b that comes out (raw) from the camera – is stunning. I’ll have more to share about this project – and upcoming projects within the next b…/b […]

[…] Vincent Laforet wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptDue to pretty incredible demand and a fair amount of (healthy) skepticism as to whether or not the footage in the “Reverie” piece is “truly” raw out of the camera, we will be releasing a series of raw bclips/b – the exact same bclips/b that b…/b […]

Tim: Re:
“Hey Vincent, one nitpick: how can you say that your movie production is not a commercial venture? Are you not paid by Canon to be an ambassador of its products? And was the movie not hosted by Canon on its corporate web site to represent the capabilities of the camera it is currently marketing and selling? If so, how can the claim that the film isn’t a commercial venture be valid?”

Tim – very good question. And I’m happy to clear the air on this one.

First – a commercial venture is defined by one where someone directly profits from it – i.e. if I am getting paid – or expect to profit from something – I am engaging in a commercial venture. I was not paid to do this. I also had no idea of what this camera could do initially – nor that I could ever pull off the film I did in such a short period of time. I could very well have shot video of my son and returned the camera that following Monday.

I did this on my own because I thought this camera was groundbreaking – and I wanted to be one of the first to put it through its paces.. I was very clear about this on my blog. I also was taken aback by the quality of the footage – and understood that it would help me develop my reel. I’ve been asked to shoot video/film before on commercial projects that I’ve worked on in the past – and given that I didn’t have a reel – that never really went anywhere. Making this video and investing $5K of my own money – was not an attempt to benefit Canon – but it was an attempt to invest in MY career and development. That is why I broke the piggy bank on this one and spend $2K on a helicopter. If I get a single commercial filming job in my entire career – that will be the best $5K I likely ever spent in my opinion.

As far as being an Ambassador of Canon’s products – I am also very (and quite upfront) about this – and have been on both my site (see the disclaimer to the top left of the blog,) the initial blog post about “reverie”, and on the post you are responding to here.

Canon does NOT pay me to sell their stuff – the have never asked me to say “this” and not “that” – in fact they have an incredibly hands off approach to their Explorers of light in general. When they sponsor us to go speak at EOL events – they stress that they want us to talk about our photography- we’re not going there to sell cameras – that’s what their camera reps are for…

That being said – there is obviously a benefit to them for having the event “sponsored by Canon” and people obviously know that I shoot with Canon cameras and products. No one is blind to that.

The point is that I would be shooting with Canon cameras regardless of whether or not I was an Explorer of Light or not.

Canon does pay me a fee to host 5 of my images with my profile on their website. That’s it.

I BUY EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF GEAR THAT I OWN – they don’t give me or any EOL any gear for free… I’m sure there are exceptions – but I’m not one of them. At best I can borrow a lens or camera from CPS like everyone else… and granted I might be able to keep it a few days longer or get it a bit earlier than the average CPS member – but I too get the phone calls like all of you to return the gear when it’s past due.

I wanted to video to be hosted by SmugMug – because I feared that hosting it on Canon’s wesbite made it “feel” too commercial. But given that this footage was shot with a prototype camera – Canon initially did not want to release the footage to anyone outside of their company. So it lives on their servers – that is the reason behind that. That was non-negotiable. Now they’ve apparently changed their minds – and are releasing the video in raw format as a result of the response to the video.

So – does Canon – or do I – benefit from this. Sure – of course – PR is PR… but there’s a difference between publicity and getting paid… when a corporation donates to a charity and releases a press release… is their action truly altruistic? Good question isn’t it? In many ways the intent is what is important – I believe that if your intentions are pure – it’s a good thing – especially if others benefit from it.

But I while I did not benefit from the release of this film financially on the DLC site – I’d be insulting your intelligence if I were to say that I won’t likely benefit from this financially long term because I’m sure that this video will at some point lead to another job (in fact it already has.) But that’s another story entirely – and I’m sure you agree with that. The point is that when I first asked to borrow this camera – and first put this short film together – I was doing it for MYSELF and MY career. Not for Canon. The resulting video – in large part to the technology inside this camera – made my jaw drop. And then it morphed into what it has become today – I did not go into this with the purpose of eventually selling the video to Canon – nor did Canon lend it to me with that in mind. They had other people “chosen” to do that for them – and budgets set aside for that.

What I can also state to re-assure the business-minded photographers out there…. should Canon or anyone expect to use any of this footage for any other use than the initial “Reverie” showing on the DLC site – don’t expect me for a minute to give it to them for free.. in fact expect them to pay a premium given that I took all of this financial risk up front… I’ll qualify that very quickly and say that if this “Reverie” video in its current form is ever used commercially – Moby will be paid (or the money will go to his charity – whatever he wishes) if he choses to have his music included as part of that secondary use.

Lastly – both Canon, you and I benefit – when they ask photographers to be part of the EOL program. Besides going to speak at events – we are also very involved in giving them feedback (we scream as loud as you when things don’t work the way we “think” they should – believe me) but the EOL program gives us a forum – and a voice – to do so constructively. Our time is valuable – as photographers – and I don’t think giving away things for “free” is a good thing in any business. And Canon clearly does obviously benefit when it gets the feedback from 650 “top photographers” in the biz that they have chosen to be a part of this group… so it’s only fair that they pay us for the time we take to give them that feedback – as it translates into better products, which leads to more sales for them. Don’t forget that testing out gear and taking time to write long e-mails with feedback takes time – time away from other jobs and time away from family. Most of us would do it for free – because we love our jobs, are passionate about the craft and helping others become just as passionate with photography, and are honored to be asked to contribute to one of the best camera companies in the world – but we are also good businesspeople and want to charge for that feedback – so that those that follow in our footsteps aren’t expected to do it for free in the future. I get paid as an EOL to speak at events – because photographers that preceded me were good business people and were able to communicate that their feedback and time was valuable – and should be remunerated. I thank them for doing that.

And in the end it leads to better products for you – me -and everyone else. Everyone wins.

excellent bit of video you have produced here. I keep watching it over and over stunned at the quality of the image. it’s hard not to think of all the fun videos i could shoot in my travels around the world.

One of the important caveats (and what my lawyer told me) is that at no time can anyone download the film – and more to the point his music – to their hard drives

That doesn’t really make sense. The video on the Canon site is downloaded to your hard drive as you play it. After watching, quicktime lets you right click on the video, choose “Save as Source”, and you have a copy sitting wherever you like.

When is the last time anything that involves a lawyer “make sense?” I’m not being a smart ass… Too many rules in our society – are there because “someone said so” – not because they make sense.

I am given advice – don’t want to get sued -and follow counsel.

I would love nothing more than to allow this video to show up on everyone’s iPhone and AppleTV – it’s on my iPhone and AppleTv… but I am not in a position to decide that for Moby and his music. End of story.

Streaming it – as opposed to allowing people to download it to their desktops directly – serves some legal distinction in some way to some lawyers – apparently. No one is dumb enough to think that you won’t be able to save it to your hard drive… ANYONE can get a free screen capture software for free out there… But there is a difference between saying: here download this file – and here: here is a streaming file – watch it once – but don’t download it to your hard drive… what people do in that case – is in their hands.

Does it make sense? …. I think I’ve made my opinion on that pretty clear.

Thanks for sharing – I can’t wait to see more. Moby’s work is great. For future projects you may want to consider Nine Inch Nails’ fantastic instrumental “Ghosts”. It was released under a Creative Commons License. Trent Reznor’s amazing soundscapes would pair beautifully with your art.http://ghosts.nin.com/

Hey Vincent, Im a NJ Photographer/Filmmaker and just happen to come upon your site while researching the 5D M2 specifically for its Video functions. Luckily I found this site the day after you released the film, so I had no waiting to do! The film is stunning, the quality amazing and you are right about the music it’s perfect.

I have admired your work for many years and never had a chance to talk to you. No matter what anybody else said and will say I think you pulled off quite a miracle there in just 3 days. You certainly showed the best technical qualities of this camera, dealing gracefully with the technological issues caused by the “rolling shutter”. My congratulations go to you and your friends for the outstanding images that you have created to show off the low-light incredible qualities of this camera.
I won’t ever forget that full figure shot on the cobblestone in Brooklyn with the model staring away from the camera and that soft yellow light… just outstanding.

As a side note, for the future, there are a lot of great musicians that play and arrange CC (Creative Common) music on ccmixter.org – think really good music perfect for projects like this one (it would also have helped some less famous artist to get his / her own 15 mins of fame – something to keep in mind for the future).

great video. using the modelling lights on the profoto was genius. shows amazing lowlight capability of the camera.

Any news whether Canon will let 5Dmk2 record at 24/25p? The quality is there, not just for indies, but even for pro corporation or broadcast as B camera. PAL NEEDS 24/25p, 30p makes it a nightmare.
Canon could sell a million units to the video crowd alone if only it can do 24/25/29.97 fps and shutter+aperture+ISO can be manually set and locked.

The game has changed…stunning video…I’ve been wondering around dazed since the D90, now this…is this the beginning of the end for single shots? In 5 years will we be rolling video at a portriat session and pulling stills from the video to make high res prints from? Will the portrait of the kids on the wall be a repeating 5 minute video in tack sharp detail? Is there something magical about stills? Have I bought my last strobe? Leave me print, paper and frozen detail, get out of my site!…fill the the river with HD, blog and videoSTILL, I’m jumping!

Vincent,
To be able to use the camera for pro applications beyond the web and wedding/corporate fields the following must be known:
1) Is the codec 4:2:2 in chroma coding?
2) Are any other than 30fps frame rates available?

First off, kudos, especially if this is your first time dealing with moving pictures ! Fantastic work, just as you had claimed, the picture quality is amazing.

Now that you are in a position to give feedback to Canon and actually get listened to, can you please, pretty please, lobby for a true 24P mode (with no pulldown issues)? The only (and I do mean only) thing that is problematic with the footage, for me, is the “video-like” framerate. If that got taken care of, it would be almost impossible to tell the footage had been shot on the 5D MkII and not, say, anything RED (at 1080P, of course). Another advantage of a “film-like” framerate would be either an even lower compression for the same bitrate or alternatively, smaller files with the same compression level. Not to forget even better low-light performance…

I can only assume it’s been serendipitous for me to find your blog at this very time: reading about the 5D MkII and looking at the first samples in the past weeks, I was starting to wonder if shooting my next music video (for a groundbreaking band that shall not be name here) with it would be possible, and if it was, what that would entail. Now I’m even more inclined to believe it would be possible, and actually bringing some sizeable advantages. As a parting note, if it is ever possible for you to connect me with the right people to talk to about that at Canon USA, I’d be forever grateful !

Once more: astounding quality, and fantastic job. Lots of kudos to you and those who helped you putting this together !

I agree with Peter. Canon has to make 24p or 25p support.
This is a huge issue for professional photographers i Europe, and it would definately affect the sales numbers very negatively if they choose not to implement it.

the pictures look great, but to be a useable camera it’ll need to have some sort of audio input with individually controllable levels for each channel.

there’s not much point giving this camera to a PJ if he’s going to have to get a soundman to caputre the audio and stitch it together later.

other concerns are over the audio compression codec. the majority of HD cameras recording to a harddrive or DF drive horribly compress the audio to make space for the HD pictures. is this any different?

i hope so. sound if often overlooked but make or breaks a journalistic or creative piece. IMHO.

My goodness Vincent, you are not only one of the most talented photographers I’ve ever seen or met you are one of the hardest working. I’d love to see you do a blog on how hard it is to be a photographer and what I mean by that is not how hard the market it, but how hard you have to work at your art. Can’t wait to see the clip.
Best.

I have pre-ordered an EOS 5D MKII Body Only from Jessops (UK) who tell me it will be available early Oct, but I’m not holding my breath!

This is my first DSLR and at the moment will probably only be able to afford one lens. I will mainly take Landscape or Panoramic shots with some telephoto of Wildlife / Family. I see that the majority of your lenses are L-Series f/2.8 and that made me wonder what I should purchase.

ADVICE PLEASE:
I will probably be mostly hand-held to start with so was considering the EF 24-105mm f/4.0 L IS USM as a good all round general-purpose lens. But I wonder whether I should actually opt for the EF 24-70mm f/2.8 L USM, sacrificing some Focal Length and Image Stabilization but gaining the Speed and the ‘apparently’ better Quality Optics or opt for the EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS USM sacrificing some Field of View but gaining the Speed, IS and the ‘apparently’ better Quality Optics.

Vincent, be honest. The reason you sprung $2,000 for the helicopter was because you wanted a reason to hop in a helicopter and fly around over NYC. I know that would have been my reason.

I can’t get over how many people are nitpicking this video for things that really were not your intent. But there will always be skeptics out there.

I am also very happy to hear that you/they will be offering up the full resolution clips to download. Will it be all of clips, so that we can piece it all together and see the whole thing in it’s full 1080p glory?

Vince, As a working photojournalist I can fully appreciate what you have done and the amount of work that went into it. Showing us the 5D MKll’s video capability is something that we would not normally see in a venue like this. Well done and thanks again for all the hard work. Here I sit with my Canon HF100 for newspaper web video wondering when it will become obsolete (next week?).

Vincent, thanks for the video, the effort put forth, and your enthusiasm for the art of photography.

Question, so how is the still photograph side of this camera? Did you get to use it to take some still shots? Is the still side just as exciting of an upgrade than the video? I can read reviews from other sites, but knowing your exuberance for new technology, and also being one of my favorite photographers on earth, your review of this camera on the still side would be greatly appreciated by me and many others.

Thanks again, and thanks for the inspiration to go out and shoot every time I see one of your photographs!

On the issue of 24p: I am wondering why Canon chose 1080p30 as the “Broadcast Standard” On its face it makes little sense. Why not offer 25p/24p/30p right out of the box? It occurred to be their might be a technical issue or an internal to Canon Political/business issue with the Video Division. The technical issue I considered is that while 24p would reduce storage 20% and give the shooter a bit more exposure headroom. Interframe Compression becomes more difficult. Particularly with fast camera movement. If this is the case, that means you have to lean on the processor much more to compress the changes from iFrame through the GOP (And how long is their GOP?) If this is the case the processor simply may not be able to handle the additional load.

The internal issues at Canon would be a business concern that a $2700 Super high quality video/digital film camera might destroy their high end video camera division.

For my own work I have always hoped that canon would create a digital film camera that would allow you to use their robust assortment of lenses. But the adaptor on the XL line just never produced good quality and most lens functions were not available.

Now the question is will Canon be the company that breaks the mold before Red. Either Tuning the 5DMkII so that it becomes a 24p HQHD Dream Machine or Maybe develop a Camera body specifically for it using EF lenses? Or will they get tied up in knots again.

I am ready to Sell off my HVX gear, lenses and all… the minute 24p is announced. – Canon take that to the bank.

BTW – Vincent your work on this project is a great public service to the creative community you are a member of. Thank you.

I’m not one of the skeptics (and I’m ecstatic that the 5D MK II is so good in so many ways), but I *am* one who would love to see the enormous 500 meg files you say you’re not budging on 😉

Seriously, if you seed it through BitTorrent just *once*, the file spreads in a peer-to-peer way that avoids all server and bandwidth charges. As long as Canon is okay with you sharing the full file(s), BitTorrent is harmless and free (literally) for everyone.

Vicent: What I’m greatly concerned about is the limiting AUTO exposure that is only available in the movie mode. Have you shot any videos in day light? I would assume it would be EXTREMELY difficult to maintain low ISO(to limit light) and wide open aperture(for creamy bokeh). Sure, you locking the exposure and compensating will only allow you to over and under expose from the baseline exposure, not a way to creatively select camera settings.

After seeing your video, I can’t wait to get one of these in my hands!!!! And I’m not even a photographer yet… LOL! Bob can teach me though. Awesome work Vincent!!! You inspire so many, especially us! ~ Dawn & Bob Davis

I suspect this camera will work less well in good light. Since you can’t select aperture and ISO manually, the auto exposure will force the camera to a small aperture which will result in large DOF, and the result is what you’d get out of basically any HD camcorders out there, not the dramatic shallow DOF that we see in Vincent’s video.

Vincent,
By raw footage I understand it means it has had no post production. As shot and not that the original capture was in RAW format.
Also it is one of my doubts: The EOS 5D MKII can capture video using the RAW data from the sensor or it only records data after it has passed the internal camera pipeline?

Andre – yes you understand correctly. What you are seeing in the “reverie” film as well as with the clips that are scheduled to be released tomorrow – is the raw footage right out of the camera – no adjustments (not RAW as in a CR2 file…)

As far as I understand – it does the latter in terms of passing the data internally and onto the CF card -i.e. it is not a RAW motion picture file. But an H.264 .mov file. I can tell you that a good bit can be done in grading to this footage- the results I’ve gotten in Apple’s Color are impressive – you can REALLY open up those blacks…

Based on your article you shot this entire project in video mode? Correct? If that’s the case, doesn’t that move you from a “still photographer” to a “videographer”?

I’m trying to understand how this camera, other than the 21MP sensor and full-frame capability could apply to a wedding and event photographer. It sounds like the video mode allows you to take stills at the same time? At a wedding, would I have 2 of these cameras and shoot stills while I have another PHOTOGRAPHER shooting video?

It definitely sounds like a “game changer” and I’m looking forward to the next revolution in the digital world.

Thanks for the great review and article and I look forward to hearing back from you.

Thanks for sharing the video and your thoughts on this great looking camera. I can’t seem to find any specs regarding how it handles audio though. What was your take on the quality of the sound? Is it capable of handling an external mic?

to nic: How do you know the camera won’t reduce the shutter or increase the ISO when you attach an ND filter? The fact is, everything is AUTO. You can lock AE down after the exposure is acquired but you have no control of how the camera acquires the exposure. It could change shutter, ISO, or aperture or a combination of all 3. Sigh…

I have a request for Canon, 24p and 25p of course, but what about intermediate framerates like one frame every second, or less: one frame every 5 or 10 second, that will be a fantastic setting for the ones who love doing accurate time-lapse like me, without the use of the mechanical shutter.

Today, to make 4K time-lapse with the mechanical shutter on my 5D, means taking sometimes 20000 photos in the day !!! It damages the mechanical shutter much faster.
Now that the 5D Mark II makes video, if we could select the framerate from a wide choice, we could make 1080p time-lapse using only the new electronic shutter, without damages it.

I’m very glad to hear that Canon is aware of the limitation issue of being restricted to 30 fps. I am rather surprised that the UK model looks like it won’t have the PAL resolution of 25 fps, given that their range of camcorders are tailored to NTSC or PAL markets. I sincerely hope that they address this, as your lovely short shows great potential for this DSLR.

“I would love nothing more than to allow this video to show up on everyone’s iPhone and AppleTV – it’s on my iPhone and AppleTv… but I am not in a position to decide that for Moby and his music. End of story.”

Why not get Canon to pay for the Moby rights then you get to distribute the vid, they get promotion and we get to keep it. win win

Vincent, great take on the business of photography and the risks you took to do this project. You are right on when it comes to demanding to get paid for work provided. As the means to produce work decrease, more people enter the “market.” Competition increases, which is good, but when people start giving away work just to be published (or to give speeches or whatever), bad things happen. Expectations good awry and worth evaporates. This is as true of photography as it is of writing or music. We all dream of making a living at what we like to do. Thank you for holding the line, and stating it so eloquently.

Vincent-
I know (and trust your word) that you set out to do this as an independent project without funding from Canon, but I sure hope they are taking care of you with some kickbacks after the fact, especially since this has clearly taken up a HUGE portion of your time for the past few weeks. If I were them you would already have a free 5dmkII in your hands to keep, and you’d be the first person to get a preproduction 1dsmkIV! (Are you listening Canon? 😉

If the codec sampling is really 4:2:0 it’s even a bigger problem thaan 30fps. 30fps is more information than 24/25 fps. Chroma from 4:2:0 is even worse for postproduction than 4:1:1. It is half of the TV minimum or 4:2:0 and a quarter of film industry 4:4:4. Little color correction is possible and very poor FX. Industrial codec dor industrial applications.

Man oh man. Anytime something big happens there will always be smart asses out there taking it apart and criticizing it. There are always those that say “it’s fake” or “you’re a fraud” as soon as you do something for the greater good.
Yeah, Vincent is paid by Canon or promoted by him or whatever, and you know, even if this was some viral advertisement and in fact NOT done for free – who cares? Really? The fact is, a quarter million visits later and this camera is generating more hype than the upcoming election down in the states. =)
I don’t know what people expect honestly, it’s a camera. it does motion. yahoo, yes it’s amazing, and in six months we’ll all be wanting the next best thing out there.

i don’t know..i think everyone who is complaining, not believing or just being an idiot with their comments need to step back and look at the rest of the world for a minute.

Litti – you DO have control with the aperture – I just didn’t have a manual – I’ve now been told that by pressing the “*” button on the back of the camera – you lock down all of your settings (no need to hold it down either…) when you press it again – it resets… you can also change the EV compensation as you shoot – with the exposure locked down… Therefore Aperture, ISO and shutter speed can all to easily be locked down…

So that’s one “big” down – and 24 fps to go 😉 We’ll have to lobby Canon for that and see if it’s even possible… I understand and agree that this is someone that everyone is waiting for…

I met you here in Toronto @ CPS XPO 2007. I absolutely luv the movie. The 5D M2 will be backordered for a while. I remember you mentioned the “Journeyman” series. Is that still forthcoming? Will you release “Reverie” and “Making of” for dvd?

Moby: “..the music is free as long as it’s being used in a non-commercial or non-profit film, video, or short.
if you want to use it in a commercial film or short then you can apply for an easy license, with any money that’s generated being given to the humane society.”

Vincent,
“..So that’s one “big” down – and 24 fps to go 😉 We’ll have to lobby Canon for that and see if it’s even possible… I understand and agree that this is someone that everyone is waiting for…”

Yes it IS a BIG deal. If it can do 24p or 25p, expect EVERY SINGLE indie, pro videographer and broadcast unit IN THE WORLD to buy one, two or many at this price (I will definetely buy 4-5!). It’s not perfect (4:2:0 sampling, etc), but nothing in the market offers:

-such high quality at that price
-35mm DOF with such wide amount of *cheap* EOS L lenses (compared to film/video lenses)
-smallest footprint ever, you can put the 5D absolutely anywhere, this is BIG
-Quantum leap in lowlight shooting (including $$ CineAlta!)

But If no 24/25p, forget about it. Also quite important to mention is that in the 50Hz WORLD (biggest part of the planet, and CUSTOMERS), shooting with artificial light at 30p will introduce bad flickering and colour shifting, and video will be pretty much useless, even for an amateur posting in YouTube.

Canon shouldn’t fear the 5Dmk2’s video cannibalizing future products. EVERYBODY will get a 5Dmk2, and then they still will buy more video-oriented products based in that techonology.

One of the important caveats (and what my lawyer told me) is that at no time can anyone download the film – and more to the point his music – to their hard drives.

Hate to break it to you, but Canon is already disregarding this caveat in that after the entire movie has finished loading, anyone can right-click on the embedded movie and click “Save As Source…”, saving the entire .mp4 file. How would hosting the 1080p version be any different?

Vincent, thanks for all your hard work on this. I loved the video and am looking forward to the raw footage!

Not to beat a dead horse, but just to clarify what Jaymis said. You can “download” the actual quicktime video file from Canon’s website to your hard drive – no screen capture or audio capture required. I would assume that this is legally the same thing as clicking a link and downloading the file, but I’m not an expert.

vincent, thanks for sharing your excellent work with us. you and your friends have done a very good job!
i just hope that my ordered 5dmkII will be available in november – as promised by my canon dealer … 😉

Vincent,
We can’t thank you enough for both the text and the video. You have shown us the light! GREAT review and fantastic imagery have sold me, whether you get paid or not. I think you should! Your words will sell more 5D Mark II’s than the folks behind the counter at my local dealer.
Nancy

Vincent, great work. As a photographer I’m sure no one has to tell you how important independant aperature, shutter speed and ISO control is. I think if Canon had independant control maybe in the next MarkII upgrade it would win me over for sure since I already have a full assortment of EF lenses. This is the only stumbling block I see with the MarkII. That you shot such a great video w/o percise control simply amazes me.

You don’t have to wait for his response since he already addressed it at 12:02am:
“Streaming it – as opposed to allowing people to download it to their desktops directly – serves some legal distinction in some way to some lawyers – apparently. No one is dumb enough to think that you won’t be able to save it to your hard drive” -Vincent

I wonder what it would have look like, with a Vixia HD Camcorder(HF11, HF**) mounted close to the 5D, taking take similar shots.

I played with a Vixia recently and found that pictures are quite impressives(althought the default saturation boost is quite obvious, to makes things looks cool). Low light shooting too, was more than impressive at the rock climbing gym…where my F2.8 lenses can barely shoot with natural light.
And those can shoot 24p.

Only thing I hate about those AVCHD files is that they can’t be cutted/splitted without re-encoding, it seems…

Vincent,
Thank you for taking on this challenge for all of us! You are truly and inspiration for photographers. The footage is so inspiring! This camera is a game changer like you said and it will change everything about my ventures in an amazing way.

The 5D Mark II is proving to be a marvel of a camera. It does both tasks so well. Great Job Canon.

Rick Brown – you nailed it on the head. Video is no longer “necessary” – shooting this film was an incredible amount of fun – it wasn’t an issue of trying to modify reality so that the camera was able to capture it – instead you could allow things to be and depend on the camera to take that burden off of you – as it’s low light sensitivity and mobility become true assets. You are no longer “limited” by you tools – but instead encourage to “see” as opposed to worrying about what your camera or chip CAN see…

[…] no colour correction or post-processing trickery involved. To prove this to sceptics, from Friday Canon will be hosting some of the raw clips from the shoot. Without going too overboard: This is completely […]

wow. i must say that because of this video i will be adding the 5d mk II to my arsenal (after just getting a 5d last week.) thank you vincent for this very informative, not to mention spectacular, insight to the new 5d.

you can shoot in Aperture priority – you set the Aperture and the camera chooses between 1/125th of a second or 1/60th of a second – and then it’s main control is the ISO

you can shoot in shutter priority mode- set the shutter speed ( I think only 1’/60th and 1/125th of a second would be option here) and the camera sets the aperture and ISO for you…

In the last two options – at any point you can override the meter – and EV correct the exposure – I believe two stops up or down… once you have a setting you like – you can press the “*” button and the exposure is locked in.

At any point – you can open or close down the camera by rotating the back dial – AS YOU SHOOT…

The point is: there is no manual exposure mode – so you can lock everything down… you CAN lock it down – with the “*” button however – it’s just not as direct and a bit more of a workaround.

You should know that I immediately set my AF to back button autofocus – using the “*” button – and therefore eliminated my “exposure lock” button… and in only one of the shots of the movie was exposure ever an issue… therefore – locking down exposure did not prove a critical as I had assumed…
Does that help?

I would love to see a 720p mode with let’s say 60fps ore even more.
With that you are able to do slow motion shots. Even if you will need more light for shooting, that way this promising camera will expand creativity even more.

The 30 vs 24/25 FPS is truly an issue in Europe but this blog here has direct contact with Canon US that I think has no contacts with Canon EU ;)…
… In the US the electricity flicker is 60hz and in Europe it is 50hz so all flickering fluorescent lights would be flickering in Europe with 30fps also any 100hz screen will be flickering unless you choose 1/50th shutter but I don’t know how that complies with 30fps footage as the rule is to shoot with shutter speed double the framerate. You can see the flickering lights fom the Nikon D90 movies ad the 24fps doesn’t play well along with 60hz lights.

Oh one more thing, no one outside the US can not sell anything made on 5D MKII to the networks showing 25fps content, no commercials, no music videos, no documentaries the 30FPS just isn’t the standard in the little country called the Europe for example. There simply isn’t a straight 30fps to 25fps conversion to standard European broadcast. So we could say goodbye to non-internet usage of the 5D video in EU. Maybe there are plenty of productions that will not need the broadcast standard 25fps but I doubt that any producer would risk it.

30p only (and 1/60 or 1/125 shutter) means, NO SALES IN EUROPE except as an ordinary DSLR. Video will be a useless gimmick. That’s 730 million customers, btw.

-All HMI (production) and indoor lights will flicker, it’s 50Hz here. We need 24 or 25p and 1/48, 1/50, 1/100 etc.
-5Dmk2 Video can only be displayed direct from camera (to HDTV TV set) or in computers.
-No DVD to be handled to the new weds. No DVD for grandparents. How to distribute a content no standard player will reproduce? (will require serious transcoding that will destroy IQ)
-No useable content. No corporate video, no documentaries, no commercials, no RADIOHEAD video shot with five 5DMkII.

Just to say Thank you for what you do with the camera, has a wedding photographer in Israel, i shoot every night with a 1D Mark III and 5D, i can say that we are in very exciting time now with the new possibility you show, i feel the days that we switch from film to digital. thank to you for opening new dreams.

Freddie – at this point I am waiting for Canon USA to get into their offices. Please understand that at this point the Canon lead people are spread out between NY, Cologne Germany (Photokina) and Japan – the time differences is making getting everyone to approve things incredibly time consuming. My point is: until I give you a further update – you can put your guard down for now. I’m not anticipating doing ANYTHING about this until late tonight – and expect that this could easily take longer because once the weekend comes – corporate offices close…until Monday…

Hi Vincent, Really wicked Film! We have just taken your Film into Boujou to see if the footage from these 5d mII’s will work with 3D tracking software. Seems to work with none of the CMOS Red Cam issues. Means this baby will work well in a Post Production / Effects Areas. We work for a London Post Production house and are very impressed with your results!

Just one BIG request can you ask Mr Canon to Update the Final Production Models Firmware/Software so we can all use 24fps / 25fps.

Dude – I don’t care what the nay sayers and nitpickers are saying — if the economy was better and I had some cash to throw around I would pick this in a heartbeat.. To be honest I am going through my gear to see what I can get rid of to buy the 5D mark II. Awesome work on video – get goose bumps looking at it.

In all the european canon sites the specifications are 30fps.
this camera is a toy for play in the internet and computers
no television no broadcast no invasion on the video market
and no cannibalize other canon video products.
Is a tool to do things (amazing things) like Vincent’s Reverie, to see in this blog or in internet sites like this. This is the Future, internet is the future, not the television.

We just finished principal photography on a documentary film about the longest, toughest, most beautiful mountain bike race in the world.
Our principal camera was the Sony XDCAM EX1. We shot 1080 30p. It worked great. We were very happy with it.
If we would have had this camera to play with – I cant imagine the kind of shots we could have rigged up.

*** Latest Update – BOTH high resolution JPEG files from the Canon EOD 5 D MKII as well as several 1080p raw H.264 video clips – will be online within the next 6-12 hours – their posting will be announced on this blog. To be notified immediately of their posting – subscribe via RSS or E-mail – or check back ****

What you accomplished in those 72 hours was tremendous. I have watched that video a half dozen times and am just overwhelmed by everything there. I do hope you benefit from this. You are definitely right this is a “game changer”. I would love to see it at full res and cannot wait to see those files.

Vincent, I am beginning to get my head around your explanation of aperature, shutter speed and ISO with the MarkII. I am so used to going fully manual on a video camera. But, I usually shoot at 1/60 and so does the MarkII. Then set the aperature manually for the depth of field I want and the ISO will be selected by the camera if I understand this correctly. That’s beginning to sound workable to me. Just different.

Jim – (while the behind the scenes video includes shots from the XHA1 HD camcorder) 100% of the “Reverie” film was shot with the Canon EOS 5D MKII prototype DSLR. No post processing was done on any footage – for either short film.

There were no bigs lights used – just one Profoto 7b pack and one small LED light.

Great work! A couple of questions-
With colour temperature, did you manually adjust colour temperature in the camera using live view for each shot to achieve the various skin tones? Did image stabilisation in your Canon lenses play a roll in shooting handheld shots? How did you light the guy in the helicopter? Thanks!

I´ve seen the raw clips on the canon-usa page now – and it´s a bit sad that the H264-encoder in the 5DmarkII is not even reaching the level of HDV-camcorders (that use MPEG2)!
Looking at my HV20-footage i´m missing the dreamy bokeh and the dynamic range of the 5DmarkII – but the video integrity is way better in dark areas and scenes.
I wonder why the MPEG2-codeq in my HV20 is capable of keeping the clear detail even in the smooth noisy video of low light scenes, while the 5D delivers block artefacts.
While the 5D footage looks cleaner than DigitalMovies like “MiamiVice” shot an HDcam by Sony i guess – i wouldn´t wanna see 5D-footage after postpro and recompression, when the integrity of the raw footage is so low.

Maybe if you´re using smart rendering you could live with the results – but it´s a bit sad that the cam delivers such a great filmlook and then compresses it so badly…

The H.264 “raw” video looks great. Most impressive is the low noise levels at such high ISO settings. To my eye, that is the breakthrough. H.264 is a great codec but not perfect. Blocky artifacts are clearly evident. Most won’t sell their HV30’s yet and no doubt enthusiasts will attempt to capture the “actual raw” uncompressed video via HDMI and an HD capture card at the cost of portability. Anyone wanting to shoot anything close to Vincent’s wonderful night time clip will have to invest in very fast lenses. Start saving!
I’m not in favour of 24P. It’s a pseudo film look for video and in my opinion is the least likeable attribute of film. Why isn’t the Indie film maker industry pushing the video camera makers for improved film like contrast ratios, better depth of field control and serious slow motion capability.
Thank you Vincent for your inspiration!

Vincent,
Nice Creation with the 5 with your pals. Its a great example both technically and how to push forward and create shooting situations that pay off in the future. Congrats!

Is there going to be a sequel? Will this become a series like the old BMW spots?

Anything you can share on the possible paying gigs) that you generated out of this? Maybe not the details, but how creating a concept shoot as this builds that new market you were looking to break into.

In regards to sending Canon our wish list (24p), other than here, where and how can we send them our desires?

Do you think most of these ideas will show up more in the 1D series than the 5?

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